Old resolutions for new beginnings: the fashion we'd like to see in 2023
The year 2022 has already left us a few weeks ago, and from the new year that has just begun, I am still not quite sure what to expect. Yes, I'm definitely one of those who reads the horoscope looking for vain consolations and certainties to cling to in order to figure out whether to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new with a beaming smile or with the anguish of facing the unknown ("you know what you leave and you don't know what you find," my mother would say). Usually the new thrills me: when those times come when we are generally accustomed to making a list of good resolutions, I feel like one of those people full of confidence toward the future. I claim to be a "glass half empty" person, but the truth is, whenever I encounter some obstacle in my life or suffer a disappointment, I think "everything happens for a reason, you're just getting ready to live the life you've always wanted." After all, what doesn't kill fortifies, right?
And from fashion, however, what will we have to look forward to? Aside from listing new trends that can help us in our shopping in this hectic sale period (the transparencies, the fluorescent, the out, the big bags), I wonder what turn this new year will take for the fashion system. What has just passed has been a long period of small and large upheavals, some of which have left something unresolved that I can't wait to find out how it will evolve toward resolution. And yes, I am definitely thinking about where to place Alessandro Michele the coming year, because I miss him already and hope he finds his place in the world from which I can continue to watch him work in admiration. And also because Harry Styles is scheduled for a new part of his tour, and I just wonder how he will dress and who will dress him if Alessandro is no longer Gucci and Gucci is no longer Alessandro. However, a hint of the new direction in which the brand felt the need to move, as well as the reason for the divorce from the Roman designer last November, we caught a glimpse of it in the runway show that opened Milan Fashion Week last January 13: it was the Florentine company's first all-male show since the pandemic began. It was a fashion show that aroused mixed opinions: the enthusiasm of those melancholy about the Fordian style, for the clear return to sober and essential lines, and the displeasure of those who already feel that Gucci's golden years are over with Michele's farewell.
2022 also laid the groundwork for a more democratic fashion system. From VOGUE World in New York, to the Diesel and Philosophy shows, all the way to Moncler's event in Piazza Duomo, these are all examples of how fashion, even though there is still a long way to go and it is not even certain that it will continue, is trying to get off its pedestal and become more inclusive. After all, in days
dominated by Gen Z, continuing to persist in an attitude of elitist closure risks playing tricks against fashion houses. We need to show an attitude of openness, well-disposed to communicate and open doors, let ourselves be crossed and watched, not just peered at from a distance. And this is indeed what I hope for from this 2023: inclusion, democracy, dialogue.
There has also been a lot of talk about sustainability, at a time when unfortunately overproduction, consumerism and fast fashion are getting the upper hand. It is true that fashion alone can do very little here, but in this 2023 I hope to see more brands going in this environment-friendly direction, perhaps even looking for a way to make it less expensive, so that it does not become a privileged commodity confined to the hands of those who can afford it. We all need to take the dire state of the environment into our own hands, and if in our own small way we can change things by buying one sustainable dress rather than securing twenty from Shein, welcome.
I also hope that it will be a year with less controversy and more facts. A year in which Kenye West doesn't make his triumphant entrance into some fashion show by hymning racially motivated slogans.
A year in which advertising campaigns are bold in the right way, avoiding exaggerations that can lead to discussions about the dubious morality of those working on them.
These are just a few of the things I hope to see in fashion this year, but for now I hope, indeed we hope, to be spectators, or maybe even protagonists, of at least some of these big little changes. Because fashion is beautiful, but there is always time to improve.
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